Lights out to help with cyano

[TankCrasher]

How many days is it to do lights out to help with cyno? I've done this once to help with a HA and Cyno Problem but this was during a mini crash and I did it for over a week. The cyno isn't terrible but it is starting to choke out some zoa's so I want to nip this in the butt before it gets out of hand. I don't know why it is coming about either. All tests are good. I think it's from the fact that with the nicer weather windows are being opened so there is more natural light coming in. Also should I feed the tank while doing the lights out? There's only 2-3 fish in the tank so I'm pretty sure they could make it through if it is only a couple of days. Thanks for the help in advanced.

 

[Mike&Terry]

3 days and yes it is ok to feed your fish during that time. I wouldn't feed heavily.

You may also want to add some extra flow or use a turkey baster on a regular basis to keep detritus in the water column (so it can be properly exported) to help alleviate future cyano outbreaks.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I had a couple of bouts with it as well. I did the three day lights out a couple of times which seemed to work ok on my tank but it always come back.
With my tank what seemed to work was extra maintenance. I started cleaning my glass everyday, siphon my sand bed once a month and had to increase the flow in the tank. Before I increased the flow I had to use a turkey baster once a day to stir things up in the tank. Hope some of these ideas can help.
Have fun reefing!

 

[NanaReefer]

Lights out method is a band aide. The bacteria needs to be dealt with. Excess nutrients need to be removed.
Increase flow, remove Cyano via water changes and if all else fails kill the bacteria with ChemiClean.

 

[Mike J.]

Want to know where Red Slime Algae is most prevalent? Cattle water troughs. That should tell you something. RSA can help you to clean your tank. Siphon it out when it is in full bloom; which is the middle of the light cycle. By doing this you are ridding your tank of the RSA, the organics it has consumed and the detritus that is most likely under it. Agree with Zero Nitrates - extra maintenance is what you need now.

 

[duke4130]

Cyano as said above is from excess nutrients in the water. You need to manually siphon out as much as you can with a small airline and a turkey baster as said above also do some water changes to export excess nutrients. The cyano can not grow where there is sufficient flow, so make sure that you have enough flow in the tank and water is moving everywhere in the tank. I would also recommend adding some microbacter7 daily for about a week or so. By adding micro bacteria to the water it will consume the nutrients faster than the cyano can consume them and eventually lead to the demise of the cyano. Just make sure that you have a good skimmer because it will start to go a little crazy. You do not need to turn off the lights 100% because that is just a temporary solution and it will still come back. You should reduce your lighting schedule a couple of hours a day, that way your corals will not suffer from lack of lighting.

 

[TankCrasher]

I keep seeing that its extra nutrients in the water but I under feed so much I've lost fish in the past. I do my weekly 15% water changes with RC and I'm running Seachem SeaGel (carbon/Phosphate remover combo) witch I change out monthly. As far as a skimmer goes its a remora, but its rated for up to 75gal and its on a 40 pillar with a good bit of LR. As far as flow goes I have a Power Head that's 1300 gph. The only problem I have with flow is the rockwork blocks some area's but there is movement all throughout the tank, it's just faster in some area's vs others. Its only day 2 and today is WC day so I'll try to Stir up the cyno a little and suck it out if possible. Thanks for the help.

 

[Mike J.]

Have you considered some type of mechanical filtration (to remove stirred up detritus) or getting more detritivores?

 

[shred5]

Lights out method is a band aide. The bacteria needs to be dealt with. Excess nutrients need to be removed.
Increase flow, remove Cyano via water changes and if all else fails kill the bacteria with ChemiClean.

I agree solve the problem or it will come back.. I do not agree with chemiclean it is another bandade too. You have a nutrient problem. By removing one algae/bacteria you could get another that is even worse. Cyno is a bacteria and bacteria are needed in a reef to use up nutrients, anything that kills cyano will kill other bacteria making the problem worse, more nutrients.


Basically that cyno is consuming phosphates you remove that cyno where is that excess phosphates going to go? Either it will fuel more algae or bind to your rock and/or sand which will create a bigger problem..


Attack the phosphate issue and the cyno will go away.

 

[TankCrasher]

So I should run a heavy gfo? I don't want to strip the water to much as its a mixed reef and like mentioned above, I am not a heavy feeder. I don't want to harm my lps in the process of removing the excess nutrients from the water. I just wish I knew where it was coming from. I haven't lost any livestock recently so I'm kinda stumped. All test are good, but thats probably because the cyno is sucking all the phosphates up.

 

[EFSleeper]

I just got done with this battle I fear it's going to return in time but like they said above, extra maintence is the key here. I didn't want to ad anything new to my system since it is a stocked mix reef so i kept it pretty simple. I cut my 10-15 gallon water change every week in to 3 different water changes. I started adding new carbon/gfo weekly cut feedings to every other day and stood there and timed 2 mins and after 2 mins pulled all the uneaten food out. I stopped fedding plankton and mysis for my corals. I stopped all dosing into my tank unless is was to the point my corals was going to die. I also cut my lights from 9 hours daily to 6 hours. Also a main thing a lot of people over look is if you are dosing with kalk be careful to much kalk treatments will leach phosphates into your system. Also weekly I drained my sump and fully cleaned it including my socks. The 3 day no lights does work but until you cure your problem it will always return. It may not hurt to get some red slime rmover from your lfs but only use it as a last resort because it is very easy to do more harm then good with that stuff

 

[BBoley24]

Have you recently added any rock or sand to the system? Sometimes live rock turned dead has trapped dead organisms inside of the rock that will eventually leach phosphates. That to me is the scariest thing. Maybe you... or you... or even you have a leaching peice of live rock in your tank!!!

 

[Reefing Madness]

Run your lights out. Get rid of it, and the eye sore, make sure your skimmer is in top notch condition, because it will draw out some nasties on the 3rd day. Then watch the system, you can stri up the area in which you see new growth forming. In the mean time look into the GFO reactors. then when you have the time you can get it, but you can kill it off in the mean time.